\n<\/p>\n
The OECD\u2019s conclusion that prevention and early intervention and timely treatment are not only clinically effective but economically necessary should no longer be debated, writes Colin Hughes, Chair of the Irish Association for Behavioural and Cognitive Psychotherapy<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n
Dear Editor,<\/p>\n
Terence Cosgrave\u2019s recent commentary (\u2018Expansion of the Mental Health Commission\u2019s remit offers a chance to do something different\u2019 \u2013 May 1) captures an important shift in how mental health is being framed within both health and economic policy. The OECD\u2019s conclusion that prevention and early intervention and timely treatment are not only clinically effective but economically necessary should, at this point, no longer be debated.<\/p>\n
A more pressing question is why, despite this consensus, implementation continues to lag behind evidence.<\/p>\n
As the professional bodies representing accredited cognitive behavioural psychotherapists across Ireland and Northern Ireland, the Irish Association for Behavioural and Cognitive Psychotherapies (IABCP) and the British Association for Behavioural and Cognitive Psychotherapies (BABCP) welcome the greater oversight and accountability the expansion of the Mental Health Commission\u2019s remit represents. However, governance alone will not resolve long-standing issues of access, capacity and variation in care.<\/p>\n
We already know what effective systems look like. Models such as NHS Talking Therapies provide proof that timely, evidence-based psychological interventions such as CBT can be delivered at scale by competently trained and accredited professionals using stepped care and routine outcome monitoring. This shows that early intervention is not aspirational, it is achievable.<\/p>\n
From a clinical perspective, delay comes at a cost. When people cannot access support early, difficulties become more complex, entrenched and resource-intensive to treat. The OECD\u2019s economic framing reinforces what clinicians have long observed \u2013 spending on early intervention yields returns in the form of improved productivity, reduced healthcare demand and enhanced social participation.<\/p>\n
If reform is to be meaningful, it must be matched by sustained investment in workforce development, supervision and access to evidence-based therapies such as CBT. Without this, there is a risk that improved oversight will simply document unmet need more effectively, rather than reduce it.<\/p>\n
The IABCP and BABCP stand ready to support this work through our expertise in training, accreditation and evidence-based practice.<\/p>\n
By working collaboratively across policy, clinical and academic domains, there is a genuine opportunity to improve outcomes for individuals while delivering better value for society.<\/p>\n
The direction is clear. The evidence is established.<\/p>\n
The priority now is delivery at pace and at scale.<\/p>\n
Yours sincerely<\/p>\n
Colin Hughes The OECD\u2019s conclusion that prevention and early intervention and timely treatment are not only clinically effective but economically necessary should no longer be debated, writes Colin Hughes, Chair of the Irish Association for Behavioural and Cognitive Psychotherapy Dear Editor, Terence Cosgrave\u2019s recent commentary (\u2018Expansion of the Mental Health Commission\u2019s remit offers a chance to do […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":92278,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_daextam_enable_autolinks":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-92277","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-health"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/diyhaven858.wasmer.app\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/GettyImages-2129849189-mental-health-620.webp.webp","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/diyhaven858.wasmer.app\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/92277","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/diyhaven858.wasmer.app\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/diyhaven858.wasmer.app\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/diyhaven858.wasmer.app\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/diyhaven858.wasmer.app\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=92277"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/diyhaven858.wasmer.app\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/92277\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/diyhaven858.wasmer.app\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/92278"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/diyhaven858.wasmer.app\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=92277"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/diyhaven858.wasmer.app\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=92277"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/diyhaven858.wasmer.app\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=92277"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
<\/strong>Chair of the Irish Association for Behavioural and Cognitive Psychotherapy
School of Nursing and Midwifery
Queen\u2019s University Belfast<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n
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<<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"